


Burned to Ash

by sunshineisdelicious



Series: After the War [2]
Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 02:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3470465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshineisdelicious/pseuds/sunshineisdelicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A war, fought by Scots and Vikings and dragons against an unnamed enemy, is over. Set at Castle DunBroch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burned to Ash

Astrid followed the crowd of people headed to the castle. The sun was high and her hair was sticking to her face. Smoke seemed like a new permanent aspect of the landscape, and when she took too quick a breath, she coughed until her body shook and tears leaked out of her eyes.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Snotlout holding out his water pouch. "Thanks," she rasped, and she took a few swallows.

She went to hand it back, but Snotlout shook his head and said, "Nah, you need it more than I do."

"Thanks," she mumbled again, and she took another sip.

She watched as he limped on beside her. He didn't grimace, didn't say anything about the leg injury that hadn't been there this morning. She didn't ask about it or offer help. This war had changed them all.

Ruffnut was waiting for them by the bridge. Her hair had come loose from its braid and shone in the afternoon sun. She was solemn-faced and looking out at the horizon, probably thinking about Tuffnut, Barf, and Belch. It had been two weeks since she had lost both her brother and her dragon.

Or maybe she was thinking of Fishlegs—his timid but sincere advances hadn't been unnoticed, and Astrid had seen Ruff pick up the flowers he brought for her one time after Tuff and Snotlout had made fun of him. She had touched the bruised petals and lifted them to her nose. A small smile, then she had stuffed the flowers into her bag and walked away. That had been before they were called to help fight.

He was gone now, too.

Ruffnut blinked, scanned the crowd, and raised a hand at them. Astrid waved back. Ruff pointed, and Astrid turned to see Hiccup a ways back. Astrid waited for him to catch up.

"Hey," she said. "How're you doing?"

His eyes, bloodshot, blinked up at her. "Oh, hey, Astrid."

She sighed. "Yeah. Hey." Hiccup had been absent from their group for a while now, fighting at the head with his dad and the princess, strategizing their attack and becoming more of a Viking chief than anyone had expected him to be. He was different now. So was she. Everything was different.

Their youth, their joy, the future everyone had expected to live—it had all been lost somewhere in the mud and ashes of the battlefield. It pained her, but she knew there was no going back.

They had reached the door to the castle. Hiccup pulled her aside and she looked at him, waiting. They stood like that for a while, Hiccup struggling to find words. Astrid let her eyes wander over his face. It wasn't familiar anymore. Too many scars, too many lines, too many stories she had no part in. She sighed and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him in a quick hug. He was surprised and opened his mouth when she stepped away, but she held up her hand to stop him.

Astrid looked into his eyes again. They still shone; he was in there somewhere, the Hiccup she had known.

She smiled sadly. "It's okay. I know," she said. She didn't, really, and she felt like she may never know anything for the rest of her life. But she still loved him, and letting him go seemed like the only thing she could do for him.

He didn't sit with them in the hall. They watched as he and the princess talked, and they turned away when the two began to cry. Astrid felt tears run down her own face.

So much had been lost, so much that couldn't be replaced. Brothers and friends and futures, burned to ash, lost to dust.


End file.
